DIGIVESTASI - PT Freeport Indonesia has confirmed that the fire at its copper smelter in the Java Integrated Industrial and Ports Estate (JIIPE), Gresik, East Java, was successfully extinguished on Monday night (October 14, 2024). PT Freeport Indonesia’s VP of Corporate Communications, Katri Krisnati, stated that the company will soon assess the damage and evaluate the root cause of the incident.

"PT Freeport Indonesia will conduct an assessment of the damage and review the primary cause of this incident. We will also evaluate the impact on our plans to increase operational capacity," Katri said in an official statement released on Tuesday (October 15, 2024).

Katri confirmed that there were no casualties in the incident. "All employees have been confirmed safe, and no injuries were reported. The safety of our employees is always our top priority," she emphasized.

The company also expressed gratitude to various parties who assisted in managing the fire. "We are thankful to the central and local government agencies, companies, media, and everyone who supported the fire containment efforts," she added.

The fire occurred on Monday (October 14, 2024) at around 5:45 PM local time at the Gas Cleaning Plant facility at PT Freeport Indonesia’s smelter. This smelter had recently inaugurated its first copper cathode production on Monday (September 23, 2024), an event attended by President Joko Widodo. The JIIPE Gresik smelter is considered the world’s largest single-line copper smelter, with a processing capacity of 1.7 million tons of copper concentrate per year.

Together with the first smelter managed by PT Smelting, both facilities will refine a total of 3 million tons of copper concentrate annually, producing 1 million tons of copper cathodes, 50 tons of gold, and 200 tons of silver per year. Starting next month, Freeport plans to begin gold production from the Precious Metal Refinery (PMR), part of the larger smelter facility, with a gold production target of around 50-60 tons per year.

This project spans an area of 104 hectares and involves an investment of US$ 3.7 billion or approximately IDR 58 trillion.

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